Hard working U-12 girls get their rewards with two wins

Portlaoise Panthers U-12 girls continued their winning streak last week with another two wins against Castlecomer and Clonaslee.

Portlaoise Panthers U-12 girls continued their winning streak last week with another two wins against Castlecomer and Clonaslee.

The first game was against Castlecomer on their home turf and it was the opposition that opened up the scoring with great baskets from Eimear Fitzpatrick. She was a huge threat in this game and kept Portlaoise on their toes.

Ella Byrne played impressive offense and defence throughout the game. Before long, Rebecca Reddin and Jasmine Burke who played extremely well together began the scoring for Portlaoise and this settled the team down. Ciara Byrne had super steals and made impressive drives to the board but unfortunately they just didn’t fall on the day for her.

The second quarter began with immediate fast breaks from Shauna Dooley, helped along by Rachel Glynn. Great vision from Ellenor Healy resulted in excellent passes to Ellen Garvey inside the key, who again in this game was a major threat to the opposing team.

Sarah Flemming is really making a great name for herself as a defensive player and her hard work really pays off in every game as she continuously adds her name to the score sheet. Half time score 17-12 to Portlaoise.

A change of players in the second half of the game helped push the score further apart. Caoimhe Sweeney wasted no time when she went on court and added her name with a great basket. Jessica Preston worked tirelessly on defence. Grainne O’Reilly followed through in her steals resulting in her netting consecutive baskets for her team. Sinead Brady got her hand to every ball that attempted to pass her and fought hard to win the ball.

It was the final quarter that sealed Portlaoise’s fate and it resulted in another win, with the final result 37-26.

In our second game of the week Portlaoise travelled to Clonaslee. Ciara Byrne opened up the scoring immediately with ease for Portlaoise and it wasn’t long before Jasmine Burke followed suit netting under the boards. Ella Byrnes’s both offensive and defensive rebounds for Portlaoise gave them the opportunity to keep the pressure on Clonaslee.

Dooley wasted no time when she arrived on the court and she scored three consecutive baskets for her team. Great team work and vision from Flemming again saw Ellen Garvey follow through with a bank shot under the boards.

The girls pulled even further away from Clonaslee in the second half of the game. Ciara Byrne continued to increase the score for Portlaoise, with strong defence she netted more baskets for her team. Jasmine Burke got an easy rebound and effortlessly landed her shot.

Caoimhe Sweeney made an impact for the team when she joined the court. She played hard defence and it resulted in a great bank shot. Sinead Brady and Jessie Preston played tough defence and it prevented their opposition getting the ball. Grainne O’Reilly was a trojan on defence and this kept their opposition from scoring and saw her knock up baskets from her fast break.

In the final quarter Portlaoise continued to add to the ever expanding score. Baskets from Flemming and Dooley again made it impossible for the home team to get close to Portlaoise, with the final score 39-15.

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